the last of you
by alwaysyourqueen
Summary: A little girl loses her dad, and she makes sure another little girl doesn't lose anything else. An AU where Sarah lives, and Joel dies. Follows the events of the game but with Sarah rather than her father.
1. Hometown

"It's okay, baby. We're safe. We're safe." There's a second in which she believes him. Sarah trusts her father, he's always taken care of her. The world seems to be ending, but she can trust that he'll take care of her. "Hey! We need help."

The soldier doesn't look like he has that faith. "Stop!"

"Please. It's my daughter. I think her leg's broken." Sarah tries not to cry, but it's hard. It hurts.

"Stop right there!"

"Okay...we're not sick." Her father is protecting her, like he always does. He always will protect her.

The soldier picks up his radio. Sarah can barely focus on what's going on, but she can tell this man doesn't trust them. "Got a couple of civilians in the outer perimeter. Please advise." His hands are shaking.

"Daddy, what about Uncle Tommy?" she whispers. Her entire body trembles not just from pain, but from the cold and the panic too.

"We're gonna get you to safety and go back for him. Okay?"

"Sir, there's a little girl. But... Yes, sir."

Her dad looks exasperated, like he does when something is going on at work. "Listen, buddy, we've just been through hell. Okay, we just need—"

The soldier raises his rifle, pointing at the two of them.

"Oh, shit."

That's all she hears before the gunshot. Everything is white for a moment, and the two of them start rolling down the hill, and Sarah screams. She tumbles away from her father, and she doesn't know what's happening.

There's another gunshot. Then she hears Uncle Tommy's voice, and she's more relieved than she's ever been.

"Sarah, Sarah are you okay?" Tommy picks her up and looks over her face. Aside from tears and a spatter of blood, she's okay. He breathes a sigh of relief and moves away.

Sarah sees her father is lying on the ground. She only realizes the blood on her is his when she sees him gripping his stomach. "Daddy? Daddy—"

She scrambles over to him, grabbing his shoulders. "Daddy no, no you have to be okay, Daddy don't leave me behind." Her tears are coming stronger, faster now, and Tommy is there but there's nothing he can do. He presses a hand down over the wound. It's not even as helpful as a band-aid.

"You're okay, baby. That's what matters. You're okay. You're gonna be okay." He coughs, and there's blood in it.

Sarah sobs, tugging at his shirt. "No Daddy, you're gonna be okay too, you have to be."

Her father reaches out to Tommy and tugs him closer. "You make sure she survives all this, okay? You do not let her out of your sight, whatever you do."

"Promise." Tommy responds, his voice shaking more than any of the three of them would've liked.

Suddenly her father is quiet and Sarah can't stop herself. She flings herself onto his torso, clutching at his shirt and moving her face back and forth. "No, no, no, no, no, come back, we have to go, Daddy."

Tommy grabs her from behind, and she can feel herself being lifted up and off the ground, though not before she takes the watch from his wrist.

"No, no, put me down, put me down!" she shrieks, kicking her legs and trying to wrench herself free. "Don't leave him, don't make me leave him, I need him!"

"We have to go, Sarah. Those things are coming for us, and if we don't go now we're dead too."

"Please," she begs between sobs, her kicks losing power as she tries to stop her uncle's advance. "My dad can't be dead he can't."

"We're getting out of here." He finally manages to make her stop thrashing and tucks her into his side. Holding her as tightly as he can, Tommy takes off into the night, and Sarah continues to cry.


	2. Quarantine Zone

"Get up."

"Bitch."

"I said get up."

"I'm not fucking getting up." Sarah rolled over where she lay on the couch, huffing and shutting her eyes firmly once again. She even took a deep, huffy breath. "You haven't been here all goddamn night, I need a nap."

Tess groaned and poured herself a drink, the brown liquid with some kind of sediment in it. Sarah didn't need to see it to know what it looked like, or what it tasted like.

"Someone decided I'm not involved in making drops to pick up the new cards, took off with fucking out me. So I think I'm entitled to a bit of shut-eye."

"No, you fucking aren't. You said you wanted to be left alone. It's your own damn fault."

Sarah rolled herself back over, looking as Tess wiped at her forehead with the cleanest rag they had. Actually got to wash it a little while ago, too. "Deal go south? Get banged over the head by something?" Deals usually went south, honestly. Not many people were in the business of being honest and goodhearted nowadays.

"This is from the jackasses who jumped me when I was on the way back. I got the cards, should be good at least until it's getting cold with this much." Tess set the rag down and sighed, downing the rest of her glass of whiskey in one go.

"Well if I can't sleep, I can fix you up." Sarah hoisted herself off of the couch and retrieved the first aid kit. Out of it came the few supplies they had, and she started to properly clean the cut on Tess' forehead. "They get you with metal?"

"Broken glass. Grabbed an old bottle."

"Ouch. I'll check for glass shards." Sarah moved gently in trying to mend Tess' forehead. A careful eye examined the cut, which was surprisingly clean for a smack over the head from a broken bottle. Sarah couldn't recreate it if she tried. Not with a bottle, at least. "No glass. Just flesh."

"The jackasses who jumped me work for Robert. Couple of nobodies, but Robert wanted me dead." Tess leaned her elbow against the counter, her eyes darting away from Sarah.

"You've got to be shitting me. He knows we're after him." An irritated sigh.

"And he wants us dead first."

Sarah finished cleaning Tess' wound and put a bandage over it, smoothing out the surface with perhaps a little too much force. "Smart fucker."

"He's out in the warehouse, kid. I know where." Tess pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket, unfolding it to look at a simple number scrawled on the scrap. Just a 5.

"I'm thirty two, not a kid."

Tess rolled her eyes with a small laugh. "Younger than me. We gotta get our asses over to Area 5, he might not stay there long."

Wiping her hands on the rag Tess had used moments previous, Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "Let's go now. Longer we wait, the more chances he has to escape."

"I can do now."

The two of them got what they'd need. Not much more than they already had on them, thankfully. Sarah got her handgun into her back pocket, and she clipped on her side-bag. After shoving some cleaning alcohol and bandages in, she got to the door and leaned against the frame.

A gun in her own pocket, Tess met Sarah at the door. "Let's get going, it's curfew in a few hours."

—

Robert got a bullet in his brain, and a woman came around the corner. "Why are you here?"

Tess stepped back, and revealed the corpse with his brain spilling out of the ground next to her.

"I needed him alive." Marlene went up and jabbed Tess in the chest, an almost hissing component to her voice. Sarah busied herself taking Robert's remaining ammo and the knife he kept in his sock.

"Marlene, the guns he gave you, they weren't his to sell. I want them back." Tess' head looked like it was about to start smoking.

"Doesn't work like that, Tess."

"The hell it doesn't."

"I paid for those guns. You want 'em back? You're gonna have to earn em."

"How many cards are we talking about?"

"I don't give a damn about ration cards. I need something smuggled out of the city. You do that...I'll give you your guns and then some."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, going back over to Marlene. She didn't quite stand up in stature to her, but she had a big enough presence it could usually keep her attention. "What're you smuggling? And how do we know you still got the guns?"

"I'll show you. You gotta trust me if I'm gonna trust you with the cargo."

A gunshot rang out and the three women got to running. "Shit, shit, shit."

"You want this deal, we gotta move. Through here. I know a way around this. C'mon." Marlene led the way for them to climb a set of stairs.

A bullet rushed by them, alerting the trio to their pursuers, and Sarah turned and fired with her nine millimeter. The shot penetrated through the man's head, a spray of gore behind him as he keeled over. "We've got to get going, and fast."

Tess slowed to a stop as an explosion echoed in the distance. "Holy shit. Is that your people?"

"What's left of them. Why do you think I'm turning to you guys? This way."

"What are you getting us into, Marlene?" Sarah came up behind Marlene, grabbing her shoulder and turning her. "What are your people doing?"

"We're getting out. And the faster you help me, the faster we get this shit over with." Marlene pulled away and kept them running, the sounds of soldiers in the distance keeping the women on their toes. Despite their differences, none of them wanted to deal with soldiers on their tails.

"Sarah, gimme a hand with this." Marlene pulled Sarah to her side, the two of them hoisting up the warehouse door. It would have been too heavy for Marlene, seeing as she nursed a wound she clearly wasn't letting on how bad it had gotten.

Moving in ahead, Sarah rounded the corner and hurried forward, looking about for more enemies. Marlene came limping in after, and suddenly there was a girl holding a knife at Sarah.

"Woah, darlin, hold your horses."

"Get the fuck away from her!" The young girl jabbed the knife in Sarah's direction, causing her to stumble back a step.

"Settle down, Ellie. She's with me."

The girl who Sarah now knew was called Ellie went up to Marlene's side. "Shit. What happened?"

"Don't worry. This is fixable. I got us help, but I can't come with you." Marlene placed a hand firmly on Ellie's shoulder, and there was some silent exchange of information between the two of them.

"Well then I'm staying." Ellie's arms crossed, and she backed away from the trio of adult women seemingly trying to completely uproot her.

Sarah started to close the gap between herself and Ellie. She didn't have the patience for bullshit — especially when it came to her work. "Kid, if we're smuggling you, there won't be a better chance. Marlene's a big girl, she can take care of herself without dead weight."

"I was close with Sarah's uncle Tommy. He said there's no one I could trust more. You gotta go with her and Tess." Marlene pushed Sarah out of the way via her shoulder. "I'm taking Tess to see the merchandise. You go with Sarah to the north tunnel. You hear me?"

The conflict in Ellie's expression was clear, but she scoffed and just said, "Fine."

"See you on the other side, you frigid bitch." Sarah punched Tess lightly in the shoulder. "Stay alive, yeah?"

"You're the one with the chance of dying. Good fucking luck." Tess smirked, a cheeky air kiss finishing her goodbye. She followed Marlene out the side of the warehouse.

With the room empty except Ellie and Sarah, the two collected the few bullets scattered about. Sarah hoisted up the door for Ellie to go through. "Let's go, chickie. Patrols'll find us if we wait too long."

"You ever smuggle a kid before?" Ellie shimmied through the entrance, glancing around before propping open the door herself. Sarah ducked down to pull herself through and let the door down slow, the clash on the ground muffled by her efforts.

"No. I don't smuggle people. This is an exception because Marlene has our fucking guns."

"Where are we going, anyways?"

Sarah groaned, picking up the pace of walking. "You always talk this much?"

"Yeah. I do." Ellie flipped the switchblade in her hand, what seemed to Sarah like a nervous tic.

"Joining the Fireflies was real dumb of you. They're bad news."

"You're just saying that because your uncle ran off trying to make a better life for people."

Sarah rapidly spun her head back. "Don't you dare talk about things you don't know about. That's none of your business, and you don't know what you're talking about."

"Great. Cool."

They kept things quiet for the rest of the trip. Sarah helped Ellie up and through the window into the apartment, and pulled herself through.

"This is the rendezvous." Sarah walked over to a worn couch and flopped down on it, folding her arms and staring at the ceiling.

"You know your watch is broken, right?" Ellie went to the lounge chair next to the couch, sinking into it in a second.

"I do know. Get some sleep. We're heading out of here as soon as Tess gets here."

Ellie occupied herself, somehow, but Sarah didn't know how. Rain began falling less than an hour after their arrival, and the rhythmic beating let her fall asleep.


End file.
